Concept learning

Term in educational psychology Concept learning, also known as category learning, concept attainment, and concept formation, is defined by Bruner, Goodnow, & Austin (1956) as "the search for and testing of attributes that can be used to distinguish exemplars from non exemplars of various categories". More simply put, concepts are the mental categories that help us classify objects, events, or ideas, building on the understanding that each object, event, or idea has a set of common relevant features. Thus, concept learning is a strategy which requires a learner to compare and contrast groups or categories that contain concept-relevant features with groups or categories that do not contain concept-relevant features. The concept of concept attainment requires the following five categories: the definition of task; the nature of the examples encountered; the nature of validation procedures; the consequences of specific categorizations; and the nature of imposed restrictions. In a concept learning task, a human classifies objects by being shown a set of example objects along with their class labels. The learner simplifies what has been observed by condensing it in the form of an example.